Wadi Al Lith

A little less than 200 km southeast from Jeddah (in Saudi Arabia) is a beautiful oasis called Wadi Al-Lith. It is an unusually warm area due to the magma chamber underneath. Unlike the stereotypical oasis, it is not a smallish lake with palm tees and camels around it. It has a large area with many beautiful streams surrounded by thick, lush vegetation. You can see varieties of birds hopping about, dogs lying down, and cows grazing contentedly. There are also camels with their herders, and tiny minnows swimming in the steams.

When we entered Wadi Al-Lith, we immediately saw a heard of camels (with their herder) eating leaves peacefully and drinking water from the stream.

The lush green of the oasis was a breathtaking sight, especially after the harsh beige of the rest of the desert.

A cow grazing in the desert is a pretty surprising thing to most of us, but the cows here seem to love this oasis.

Along with the cows, another unusual occupant of this oasis are the dogs.

This oasis might not seem like a perfect place for a bird, but in fact there are quite a lot of birds to be found here, eating the insects disturbed by the grazing cows. From a woodpecker on the ground-

-and an egret by a stream-

-to a finch and it's nest, the oasis is a pretty good place for birds (in a desert). 

Apart from the animals and birds, there are fish to be found in the streams, too. Tiny flathead minnows, flitting about the stream, are perhaps one of the only fish found inland in the Kingdom.

To me, however, the thing which I like most about Wadi Al-Lith is not the animals, or the fish, or not even the birds. It is the beautiful scenery, the lush green trees and grass, and the beautiful sparkling streams.

At last, we got a final look at the beautiful oasis of Wadi Al-Lith before leaving it.

Wadi Al-Lith is a wonderful and beautiful place, and part of it's beauty is the fact that it is mostly undeveloped. If you get a chance to go and visit it, you really should. 

But please do not throw your trash there. The area has lots of garbage bins provided by the municipality, but they are largely ignored and garbage is thrown almost everywhere. 

Let's keep this area beautiful so more people can enjoy it.   

Harry Potter - The Cursed Child

The Cursed Child is an amazing new play written by J.K. Rowling, John Tiffany, and Jack Thorne. It is based upon a series by J.K. Rowling. The very first thing that you need to know about this play is that if you have not read the Harry Potter series first, you should not start on this one.

The Cursed Child takes place when Harry, Ron, and Hermione grow up and have kids. This is some background information: Harry is married to Ginny, and they have three kids- Albus Severus, James, and Lily. Ron has married Hermione and they have two kids- Hugo and Rose. Voldemort is dead in their world and things are running normally. Harry is the head of The Department of Magical Law Enforcement. Ginny is the editor of the sports pages of the Daily Prophet. Hermione is The Minister for Magic while Ron runs the joke shop Weasley’s Wizard Wheezes.

The Cursed Child is mainly about Albus, Harry’s son. He becomes Scorpius’s best friend. Scorpius Malfoy is Draco Malfoy’s son. Rumor has it that Draco and Astoria – Scorpio’s mom – couldn’t have a son. So they used a Time-Turner to send Astoria back in time. The rumor is that Scorpio is Voldemort’s son. The rumor is not true. So anyways, Albus is Scorpius’s best friend and when they go to Hogwarts, Albus gets sorted into Slytherin. Through the years, Albus gets teased a lot. He has father-son issues.

One night before he goes back to Hogwarts, Albus hears Amos Diggory tell his dad that he heard that the Ministry acquired a Time Turner and that Amos wants to bring Cedric Diggory back. Harry lies and denies the fact that they got a Time Turner at all. When Albus hears this, he gets mad. He wants to save Cedric Diggory. The next day on the Hogwarts Express, he runs away with Scorpio to go to Amos and tells Amos what he wants to do. Amos does not trust them at first, but his niece, Delphini Diggory (they call her Delphi) convinces him.

With Delphi, the two friends steal the Time Turner from Hermione’s office and go back in time to try to save Cedric Diggory. They try the first time and when they go back to their time, things have changed a lot, but Cedric is not saved. The second time when they try and come back, everything is disastrously wrong. After they fix everything and restore their own reality, they decide the Time Turner is too dangerous. They decide that they want to destroy it. They hand over the Time Turner to Delphi and start to discuss ways to destroy it.

Suddenly Scorpio starts having suspicions about Delphi. Why did she never go to Hogwarts? Why did she want to help them? Who was she really? Delphi just laughs and magically binds them. She tells them that she is going to restore the Dark Lord and that they were going to help her to do it. She also tells them that she has spent her whole life on this. She takes their wands and snaps them in half and then she takes them back in time to the third task of the Triwizard Tournament. They try to escape and she breaks the Time Turner.

So now Albus and Scorpio are on their own, stranded in time, and with no way to get back. They do not even have their wands. How will they get back? And who is Delphi really? Because now it is clear that she is not Amos Diggory’s niece. Why is Delphi so obsessed with getting Voldemort back? Reading the book will answer these questions and much more.

I really love this play. Even though I almost cried a couple times in the beginning. Reading this play I feel as if I am right there watching it happen and feeling what the characters feel. It is absolutely wonderful. One important thing I learned in this book is how, even if they are forced apart, the truest of friends will always find a way to be together.

So anyways, happy reading 😊

David Greenberg - Author's Visit

It was a couple of weeks ago that this happened. Everything was going on like it always does, every day. Then, out of no where, our teacher suddenly announced that a real live author was coming to our school to visit us in a couple of days! Some of us were really exited about the news, and some were...well...not. So anyways, I was really exited; I'd never seen a real live author ever in my life before! And obviously, we pestered our teacher (actually we asked and she told us, but pestered seems more...lively and...exiting, I guess you could call it) to tell us who the author was. And she told us. It was David Greenberg. I had never heard of the guy and was honestly hoping for someone like J.K. Rowling (Harry Potter) or Rick Riordan (Percy Jackson and the Olympians, The Heroes Of Olympus, and The Kane Chronicles) or someone like that, not guy-whose-name-I-already-forgot. My excitement ebbed away, leaving me sorely disappointed. 

The day came. David Greenberg was giving a speech, and we all had to go to the auditorium for it. The only good thing was that we got to miss math. And then the guy came up on the stage. If you asked me, he did not look very special. He just looked, well, ordinary. I mean if you passed this guy on the street, you wouldn't even know he was a writer. He had gray curls and he wore clothes that were...well...normal.

David Greenberg introduced himself and started talking. His speech was really fun and allowed us (the audience) to interact with him. Mr. Greenberg was also really funny and silly. I began enjoying his speech. He also read us a couple of his books (he writes picture books and poems). David Greenberg gave us writing tips, encouraged us on our writing, and told us about how it was never easy being an writer. By the time his speech was halfway done, I had already become a huge fan of him and his work. Here is a bit of his speech:

When he was done, Mr. Greenberg gave out autographs (I got one!!!) and later, I also had my photo taken with him. It was soooooo fun!!!!!!!

One of the things that made this event really special for the entire school is that David Greenberg is our first and (so far) only visiting author. The other thing is that he came from nearly the other side of the world just to visit our school (and sell books and sign autographs and all that other stuff).
                                                                                                               

Ella Enchanted

Ella is a girl who lives in Frell (a town in the kingdom of Kyrria) with her mother and household servants. Her father, Sir Peter, is a successful merchant who travels a lot and is usually out of the town. As a result, Ella doesn't see him often. Which is just fine with her, as her father is not a kind man. He only cares about himself and is selfish, not caring about anything but money (well, he cares about his wife - Ella's mother - a bit, I guess). She would be like just about any other nobleman's daughter in Frell if she was not given a fairy's blessing - well, more like a curse, actually - at the time of her birth. This fairy's name was Lucinda, and she gave Ella the 'gift' of obedience. Which meant that Ella had to do everything that was told to her. It had to be a command - a wish or request won't work. It could be anything from 'Ella, eat your meal' to 'Ella, cut off your head'. And Ella had to obey it.

After her mother, whose name was Eleanor, dies, Ella is left with her father and her fairy godmother (of course nobody except Ella knows that she is a fairy). Before she dies, she commands her daughter not to tell anyone about the curse, as they could take advantage of Ella if they knew. So after his wife's death, Sir Peter sends Ella off to finishing school with Hattie and Olivia. They are Dame Olga's daughters (a friend of Sir Peter). In there, Hattie gives Ella a miserable time, because she discovers Ella's secret (she has no idea why, but she knows that Ella has to do everything she is commanded to). Running away, Ella encounters evil ogres, huge giants, charming princes, and reluctant fairies as she goes on a quest to find Lucinda and take away the curse upon her. Will she succeed? Or will Ella have to spent the rest of her life always doing whatever anyone tells her to do?

I really like this wonderful, enchanting book which is written by Gail Carson Levine. Levine weaves an unforgettable tale which is humorous, funny and completely enthralling. I like this book because of the plot and the way it is written. Levine keeps me in suspense and her way with words keeps me completely hooked until the end. This book is a real page turner and a total must - read.

The Wahbah Crater

Last weekend, my family, a friends family, and me all went to this crater called the Wahbah Crater. It was a five-hour drive from where we live. We started climbing down to the bottom, but about 1/5 of the way we stopped, and my friend, her dad, my dad, and me continued to the actual bottom of the crater.

The Wahbah crater is a 250 m (820 ft) deep and 2 km (1.2 mi) wide crater located on the western side of the Harrat Kishb plateau, Saudi Arabia. It is formed by an underground volcanic steam eruption generated by magma coming into contact with underground water. The bottom of the crater is covered with white sodium phosphate crystals, which is a kind of salt crystal. Since the crater is surrounded mostly by non-climbable cliffs, we took a path down to the craters bottom from the North side. It's the only prepared path there. This crater doesn't usually get many visitors, even on weekends. We only saw about 3-4 groups, apart from our own, and it's hard to miss people down there when you are going up or down.

So, mostly we had fun. It was great to go down. I loved it! Especially the view from the top. Amazing!

Nancy Drew - Sabotage at Willow Woods

Nancy Drew – unofficial detective – is at Boylston to attend the parade and block party to celebrate the Boylston football team winning the state championship. She is with her best friends and buddies, Bess and George. They want to hear Carrie, George’s cousin, give her speech at the block party as she is running for the town council there. But after the speech, someone hands Carrie a threatening note telling her to stop her campaign. Soon after, other … disturbing things start to happen. Someone is out to sabotage Carrie’s campaign! After a few misleads Nancy Drew is again ready to get back on the case.

Will Nancy Drew will be able to catch the note writer before someone gets hurt or Carrie has to stop her campaign – for good?

Follow Nancy Drew’s adventures in this thrilling book written by Carolyn Keene as she tracks down a sinister criminal up to no good. As usual, Carolyn Keene puts drama, suspense and tension all in one story.

Searching for Candlestick Park

Because of money problems, Spencer Atwood and is mom have to move out of their rented house. They go to Spencer’s Aunt May. While leaving, Spencer can’t find Foxy, his cat, so they have to go without him. However, Spencer sneaks out at night and goes back to his old house and gets Foxy back. When Mama finds out, though, she tells him the “fool cat” has to go back. After Spencer’s pleading, she softens up an bit and tells him he would be able to keep Foxy until he finds a new home for him. After three days, Foxy goes to the pound.

Spencer does not want to give Foxy up, so he decides to run away. He thinks he should go to his dad, who works, Spencer believes, at Candlestick Park, for the San Fransisco Giants, his favorite baseball team. Will Spencer get there, all by himself with Foxy, on a bicycle? What will happen if he does?

Follow Spencer as he tries to reach Candlestick Park in this enthralling and funny novel by Peg Keheret. I would recommend this book for ages 9+.